Jamie Oliver is back with a brand new campaign and this time he aims to teach us how to cook a meal (not just one lowly dish but a whole meal) in half an hour. The book, Jamie's 30-Minute Meals is fabulously simple; you'll not find hundreds of ingredients or complicated steps to get confused by, you'll just need a bit of organisation and some fire in your belly.
We have two of Jamie's recipes from his new book so you can make a night of it (well 30 minutes of it) and we'd love to know how you get on.
David Loftus
CURRY
2 onions
1 medium butternut squash
1 small cauliflower
optional: 1 fresh red chilli
4 cloves of garlic
a bunch of fresh coriander
½ a 283g jar of Patak's rogan joshpaste
1 x 400g tin of chickpeas
100g prewashed baby spinach
1 x 500g tub of natural yoghurt
RICE
1 mug of basmati rice
a few whole cloves
CARROT SALAD
a handful of flaked almonds
5 or 6 carrots
1 fresh red chilli
a bunch of fresh coriander
a 2cm piece of fresh ginger
1 lemon
CHAPATTIS
1 pack of chapattis
turmeric, for dusting
LEMON PICKLE
1 lemon
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
1 level teaspoon turmeric
¼ of a fresh red chilli
1 small dried chilli
SEASONINGS
olive oil
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt & black pepper
TO SERVE
1 packet of poppadoms
cold beer
TO START Get all your ingredients and equipment ready.
Fill and boil the kettle. Put a large saucepan on a high
heat.Turn the oven on to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Put the coarse grater attachment into the food processor.
CURRY Peel and slice the onions and add to the large pan with a splash of water and a few good lugs of olive oil.
Carefully cut the butternut squash in half across the middle (for speed I'm only using the seedless neck), wrap up the base and put in the fridge for another day. Quarter the neck lengthways, then slice it into 1cm chunks - no need to peel them .Add to the pan.Trim the cauliflower and remove the outer leaves. Cut it into bite-sized chunks, and throw them into the pan. If you want some extra heat, slice up the chilli and add it now. Crush in the unpeeled garlic. Finely chop the coriander (stalks and all). Reserve a few leaves for garnish and add the rest to the pan with a couple of generous splashes of boiled water. Add the rogan josh paste and the tin of chickpeas, with their juices. Season and stir well, then put a lid on. Cook hard and fast, stirring occasionally.
RICE Put the mug of rice into a medium saucepan with a lug of olive oil and a few cloves, then cover with 2 mugs of
boiled water (use the same mug you used for the rice).Add a pinch of salt, then put the lid on and boil on a medium heat for 7 minutes. Fill and reboil the kettle.
CHAPATTIS Scrunch up a large sheet of greaseproof paper under the tap. Flatten it out, then layer the chapattis
on top, drizzling each lightly with a little olive oil and a sprinkling of turmeric. Wrap them in the paper and put them on the middle shelf of the oven.
CARROT SALAD Toast the almonds in a small pan on a medium heat, tossing occasionally until golden.Tip into
a small bowl. Wash and trim the carrots. Grate them in food processor, using the coarse grater attachment, with the chilli (stalks and seeds removed), the top third of a bunch of coriander and a peeled 2cm piece of ginger. Tip into a serving bowl.
CURRY Check and add a splash of water if it looks a bitdry. Stir, then replace the lid.
RICE By now the 7 minutes should be up, so take the rice off the heat and leave it to sit with the lid on for 7 minutes. This
will let it steam and will give you beautiful fluffy nutty rice.
CARROT SALAD Drizzle a lug of extra virgin olive oil over the salad and add a pinch of salt. Finely grate in a little lemon zest, then add a good squeeze of lemon juice. Toss well. Sprinkle over the toasted almonds and half of the reserved coriander leaves, and take to the table.
CURRY Take the lid off. Do you need to adjust the consistency at this point? If so, you can add a generous splash of boiled water, depending on whether you want it drier or wetter. Or mash up some of the veg for different textures. Taste and add a pinch of salt, if needed, then add the spinach and stir through.
LEMON PICKLE Cut the lemon into eighths, then deseed and finely slice. Finely slice the red chilli quarter. Put the
small pan you toasted the almonds in back on to a medium to high heat. Add a drizzle of olive oil to the pan and the
mustard seeds, turmeric and the sliced chilli. Crumble in the dried chilli. When everything starts to sizzle, add the sliced lemon and a pinch of salt, count to ten, then take off the heat and put in a bowl to cool.
TO SERVE Tip half the tub of yoghurt into a small bowl. Drizzle over a little extra virgin olive oil and take to the table
with the poppadoms and the bowl of lemon pickle. Remove the chapattis from the oven and take them straight to the
table. Transfer the rice and curry into large serving bowls. Spoon the remaining yoghurt over the curry, sprinkle with the rest of the coriander leaves and take both bowls to the table. Crack open your beers and go for it!
Jamie's 30-Minute Meals is published by Penguin, £26